Magic Lantern Entertainment has acquired $10 million in development funds for its movie slate, which includes a blended media/CGI animated project called Bad Kitty that is based on the comic strip character Heathcliff.
The deal, struck with TF2 Ventures through its Innovation Entertainment label, covers as many as 20 movies that Magic Lantern and Innovation can select for production in the next three to five years.
Bad Kitty is in pre-production for a planned 2011 release, with a script being written by Emmy-winning animation writer Tom Ruegger.
‘Our primary criteria will be that all of the films in our slate are ‘pre-sold’ in the market ‘ a remake, sequel, adaptation of a book, comic book, graphic novel, musical play, video game, toy property, whatever,’ says Jeff Segal, president of Magic Lantern. ‘The pre-sold quality of our titles mitigates our risk and jump-starts our marketing and promotional campaigns in support of each release.’
